A Gaggle of Faithfuls (December 16-31, 1980)

Indira GandhiHistory may well record it was the most inane exercise ever attempted by the

Indira Gandhi

History may well record it was the most inane exercise ever attempted by the ruling party. By the time last fortnight's two-day All India Congress Committee (I) session in New Delhi had laboured to its grotesque end, it was abundantly clear that the sole objective of the 650 delegates was to battle each other for first prize in the Sycophancy Stakes. And if the paeans of praise to their imperious leader, Mrs Indira Gandhi, seemed hardly original, it only proved that the ruling party consists of the same old wine in the same dusty old bottle. As far as the party members were concerned, however, the timing of their collective adulation was just right. After the hammer-blows, the party-and by extension Mrs Gandhi's credibility-has been subjected to since her triumphant comeback in January this year, she was sorely in need of an enthusiastic bout of ego massaging. Little wonder then that Mrs Gandhi beamed down on her faithful minions from her elevated perch on the podium and smugly declared, "This has been a very successful meeting."

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